“You will know what it is like to lose.” Thanos
Checkout my Stardust Review for those that want a quicker take!
Directed by: Anthony and Joe Russo
Written by: Christopher Markus, Stephen McFeely
Cast: Robert Downey Jr., Chris Hemsworth, Josh Brolin
Swift shot: Thanos has earned his spot among the greatest cinematic villains of all time. What he does to the Avengers is unspeakable. This is very much Thanos’ film. He connects all the stories together and helps bring about the most dramatic, dynamic crossover event ever attempted in movie history. I was worried that the story would get too sloppy, with so many characters in play, but I definitely was never bored with the many story-lines, and even though Avengers: Infinity War was two and a half hours long, I honestly didn’t want it to end . . . and neither will you!
At the opening, we find Thanos (Brolin) pursuing the tesseract, which is in fact one of the Infinity Stones for his now infamous Infinity Gauntlet, a glove that has been specially forged to grant him unlimited power over the stones. He has managed to track down Thor (Hemsworth) and Loki (Tom Hiddleston), who don’t easily part with the stone.
We are introduced to some new henchmen called the “Children of Thanos” and one maniacally disturbed controller named Ebony Maw
Dr. Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch) is the guardian of the Time Stone, and he will protect it at all costs, no sacrifice is too great to protect the very fabric of space and time. If he loses the Time Stone, humanity loses their entire timeline. The stakes are bigger than one man.
Reluctantly, Tony Stark (Downey Jr.) works with Dr. Strange to get these Children of Thanos to leave Earth. Things don’t go as planned, and Spider-Man (Tom Holland) gets caught up in the fray. There are old friends who get reunited as new bonds are formed, almost instantly. If I have any major gripe with Avengers: Infinity War it is the fact that a lot of the introductions are brisk and not with much meaning. But there is a lot going on in the film, so I forgive it in the interest of moving the story along. After all, this isn’t a comic book, it’s a comic book movie.
Meanwhile, in Space – Thor is picked up by the Guardians of the Galaxy, who have a fairly humorous introduction with the God of Thunder. It’s funny watching how Star-Lord (Chris Pratt) and Rocket (Bradley Cooper) and Gamora (Zoe Saldana) handle that encounter. Drax (Dave Bautista) is there with Groot (Vin Diesel) and Mantis (Pom Klementieff) as well, and I was happy to see that their characters weren’t just forgotten by writers Stephen McFeely and Christopher Markus.
Thor and Rocket go off to pursue a Thanos-killing weapon where Mjolnir (now lost) was forged. If you read the comics, you know what’s coming, and if you don’t I won’t spoil anything for you. Suffice it to say, it takes a very powerful force to make a weapon like Mjolnir, so you need a powerful actor.
The rest of the Guardians head to Knowhere to get the Reality Stone before Thanos can, and how that plays out is masterful. Probably one of the best mini-stories in the whole movie.
And unless you’ve forgotten, there’s a stone attached to one very prolific Avenger’s head, Vision (Paul Bettany) who is hiding out with Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olsen) in Scotland. They are reunited with some friends as well, as they must fight off a lethally cunning crew of the Children of Thanos who have orders to get the Mind Stone by any means possible. I thought this pair of villains was really exceptional, and even dare I say it, a bit scary. One of them, Corvus Glaive (Michael Shaw) reminded me of the little goblin creature in Cat’s Eye all grown up and horrifying. He was incredibly unsettling. His partner, Proxima Midnight (Carrie Coon) is also quite menacing to behold.
As the film moves along, we are taken to so many different locations it becomes difficult to keep track, but since I am never actually going on a trip to any of these planets, you only really need to know where they are in context of what happens on each. Some very memorable events happen in Avengers: Infinity War, and I am warning you right now, not all of these things will sit well with your kids. Understand the PG-13 is there for a reason. You’ve been warned. There is death, there is torture, there will be tears.
Each character is given enough screen time to leave a lasting memory, and of course you’ll see some of your favorites, since they are all in this movie! Well, almost all of them anyway, missing from the mix were Hawkeye and Ant-Man.
With everything moving towards gathering the Infinity Stones, Thanos gets closer and closer to his ultimate goal, which is interesting. I mentioned this is Thanos’ film, because it really is. We get a deeper grasp of why Thanos is doing what he is doing. Sure, he’s insane, but he has an agenda which is almost noble . . . if not entirely evil. He wants to save the universe by cleansing it. Is that bad?
Everything you love about the Marvel Cinematic Universe is intact with Infinity War, and this is very much a war. The battles are intense and happen on both a skirmish and grand scale. It’s really an exceptionally well done comic book film, in a time when people are getting a bit hung over on these movies . . . well, according to some anyway.
The climax of this war is something special to watch.
Time will stop.
There’s so much going on in this movie, now the 19th out of the MCU, that I could really write a whole book, not just a 1,000 word review. It’s like reading an entire comic series story-line in one weekend, where you just want it to keep going and going. But, ultimately I actually seriously considered making this a one word review . . . simply: THANOS! Go see this one, and you’ll see exactly what I mean. Don’t wait long; this is a secret that very few people can keep. We are only human.
